Hair Refuses To Thicken After A Ten Month Battle, Mild Diffuse Thinning, Frontal Recession.

[longtimelurker]

My battle with hairloss has been an on-again off-again process since 18 and I am now 32-years-old. I only truly committed to the fight on two 6 month occasions in the past, propecia .25 EOD daily and rogaine when I was 19 and at the age of 27 when I experienced massive sheds and I quit the medication both times due to sides. I regrew my hair and stopped any further loss on both occasions but aside from these scares my hair continued to recede at a glacial pace until I turned 31. The pictures below show what my hair looked like when I took my before pictures and where I stand 10 months later.
I have seen absolutely 0 regrowth when looking at my scalp with a digital microscope. Despite saturating my temples with rogaine and having a DHT level of 7 NG/DL (extremely low) I am stuck with vellus hair and what troubles me more is that I appear to have clogged follicles all along the areas of my forehead where my hair receded as of the past two years.
I am going to make a guinea pig of myself and see if I can regrow any hair where my hair line once stood two years ago (now the vellus hairs in the attached pictures) and should I see improvement then I will needle further into my hairline and scalp where my hair has thinned out. Either way.. I will upload pictures along the way for the sake of being thorough.

Before pictures - Long Hair

QUESTIONS:

Will blackheads prevent new hair growth from forming? Here's what the area directly below hairline looks like; note the clogged follicles - https://s30.postimg.org/9g1bj9bep/S20170121_0007.jpg

Has anyone here had noteworthy success using SwissTemple's protocol over a 3+ month period of time? I am having a difficult time finding any before and after pictures from "test subjects" other than Swiss himself.


Current regimen

finasteride - .25 ED March of 2016 - present
dutasteride - .5 2X a week - November 2016 - present
minoxidil liquid 5% 2x daily December 2015 - present

JUST STARTED PGE2/PGD2 protocol to see if I can stimulate new hair growth
Dermarolling 1.5 1X weekly
3 ML oral castor oil 1X daily
1000mg sulphasalazine daily

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[stachu]

7ng/dl


???

 

[longtimelurker]

Hello, 7 ng/dl is a measurement of DHT in my blood serum; normal adult levels are 30-85. I say I am a diffuse thinner but when I look at my sides under a direct light the volume of coverage is the same so I appearantly just have your typical frontal and rear balding pattern.

 

[michel sapin]

you are 32 yo? you have great hair. i didnt really understand , you took minoxidil and propecia since 19?
No sides with such a low dht level?

 

[longtimelurker]

Hi, I would clarify, there were two six month periods of time before now, 19 and 27, where I experienced sudden recession and crown loss but I managed to stabilize and regain with finasteride and minoxidil both times after six months of use. For whatever reason I would not lose my ground after quitting each time but my hair loss became so aggressive when I turned 31 that I'm no longer seeing the quick recovery I once did. I'm hoping the addition of wounding combined with oral castor oil will bring my recent losses back. I will skip the sulpha as there seems to be no consensus on its effectiveness.

Sides.. Well... I haven't had sex with my wife since starting dutasteride and I don't even care to look at other women as they walk by. While on propecia alone we had sex 2x a week at most versus every day prior. I'm basically neutered at this point. The dutasteride when taken EOD led to softening of my physique and excess water retention but I cut my dose to 2x weekly and I dropped the bloat.

 

[michel sapin]

no puffy nipples or gyno because of duta?

 

[g.i joey]

get on dat der nizoral to help scalp inflammation/clogged follicles.

 

[DoctorHouse]

Hi, I would clarify, there were two six month periods of time before now, 19 and 27, where I experienced sudden recession and crown loss but I managed to stabilize and regain with finasteride and minoxidil both times after six months of use. For whatever reason I would not lose my ground after quitting each time but my hair loss became so aggressive when I turned 31 that I'm no longer seeing the quick recovery I once did. I'm hoping the addition of wounding combined with oral castor oil will bring my recent losses back. I will skip the sulpha as there seems to be no consensus on its effectiveness.

Sides.. Well... I haven't had sex with my wife since starting dutasteride and I don't even care to look at other women as they walk by. While on propecia alone we had sex 2x a week at most versus every day prior. I'm basically neutered at this point. The dutasteride when taken EOD led to softening of my physique and excess water retention but I cut my dose to 2x weekly and I dropped the bloat.

How does your wife feel about your hair loss issues, treatments and being neutered? Most of the time we only read posts coming from single men.

 

[longtimelurker]

She thinks it's because she's gained a lot of weight and feels that I've become less attracted to her when in reality I'm just not functioning period. I worry that when she is back in peak condition ahead of a marathon she will be doing in a few month's she will notice that the issue is with me when I fail to respond to her advances. As for gyno.... I do have fat along NY lower pectoral muscle but no tenderness, swelling that would indicate expansion of the glands. When I go from 215 to 205 and I fail to see a change in that area than I will know for sure the issue is gyno as my chest has always been cut in the past.

 

[g.i joey]

Oh cmon man, 2x a week ok thats understandable, but if you cant even get it up is it even worth it?

 

[longtimelurker]

Honestly.. No.. If the sexual sides persist past six months than I will nix dutasteride from my regimen. I only live once and I find no satisfaction in living the life of a monk at 32.

 

[g.i joey]

dude, you said you cant even get hard. why would you wait that out? go back to finasteride, smash your wife a couple times a week so she can feel appreciated and be happy that you have a better head of hair than more than 75% of this forum. finasteride will be more than enough for you, if you're ok with maintaining.

Im 24 with a hairline probably the same as yours, you're fucken 30 dude. Believe me i wish i could take dutasteride, but its not an option, i have to draw a line somewhere and right now with what we have available, im not going stronger than finasteride.

 

[g.i joey]

six months no sex can be enough for your wife to re evaluate the marriage, i mean you basically said she thinks you dont find her attractive at her current state, thats already eating at her.

 

[DoctorHouse]

six months no sex can be enough for your wife to re evaluate the marriage, i mean you basically said she thinks you dont find her attractive at her current state, thats already eating at her.

Hopefully, she is not with "chad" when he is not around.

 

[g.i joey]

id say hes ok for now as he convinced his wife that shes a pork, but if she gets back into her prime and your c*** doesnt acknowledge it, chad will definitely be in the picture.. btw, whos chad?

 

[DoctorHouse]

id say hes ok for now as he convinced his wife that shes a pork, but if she gets back into her prime and your c*** doesnt acknowledge it, chad will definitely be in the picture.. btw, whos chad?

Chad is this term the incels came up with as the ultimate alpha male slayer with perfect genetics and looks. I never heard about myself until these guys included it in their posts.

 

[mr_robot]

This just my opinion, but I think you're taking things to the extreme to try and get back the hair of your youth. Your hair is fine, PGE2/PGD2 will not result in new hair. Just stick to finasteride/minoxidil and get on with your life, eventually something better will come along.

 

[longtimelurker]

Hah, allow me to clarify.. Her self-esteem is in the dumps on her own accord. I constantly compliment her but she feels so insecure that she doesn't want to have sex to begin with.

I stopped nizoral a month back as I thought I was shedding due to it.. I was probably using it too heavily, 1% EOD and I will use it 1x weekly from now on. I will drop dutasteride starting today.

 

[g.i joey]

my man, i hope we didnt scare you into dropping dutasteride instead helped open your eyes to whats truly more important at your age.

you're 30 with a currently pretty good head of hair, a wife who apparently was gorgeous when she was in shape. Dont let greed ruin that for you. finasteride sounds like it gave you a little lower sex drive but didnt kill it off, thats a fair compromise to me. Losing complete control of erections is not IMO.

Glad you made the decision brah, it was the right one.

 

[g.i joey]

and FWIW it seems that alot of the men your age on this forum are desperately trying to settle down. You already got that angle on lock, i dont doubt finasteride will keep your hair the way it is till your late 30's